FounderX Texas 2025
Austin, Texas | March 4-6, 2025
FounderX is the global gathering of FI and Decile Group Alumni, Mentors, Local Leaders, and Partners, and for the first time the event will convene in one of the world’s fastest growing technology and startup hubs: Austin, Texas.
This highly-curated event will gather 200 investors, founders, technology executives, and startup ecosystem leaders from across the globe for three days of networking events, group workshops, and engaging talks from top Keynote Speakers.
The event is strategically planned immediately before the world-famous South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference (Mar 7-13), and attendees get access to discounted tickets.
The goal of FounderX is to facilitate meaningful connections and learning between members of the FI and Decile Group Networks, which span 100+ countries across 6 continents.
Only invited FI and Decile Group Alumni, Mentors, Leaders, and Partners are eligible to attend this event. If space permits, we may consider additional attendees on a case-by-case basis who complete this form.
Event Partners
FounderX is honored to have the support of leading organizations in startups, venture capital, and technology.
Keynote Speakers
FounderX Texas will feature talks from top global experts on startups and venture capital.
Jason Calacanis
Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur, author, and angel investor in over 250 startups, including 7 "unicorns". He also hosts the popular podcasts 'This Week in Startups' and 'All-In'. Named “arguably the world’s greatest angel investor” by The Twenty Minute VC, Jason was among the early investors in companies such as Uber, Robinhood, Wealthfront, Thumbtack, and Trello.
He is the author of "Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups" (Harper Collins, 2017) and serves as Founder & CEO of LAUNCH (which encompasses the LAUNCH Festival and the LAUNCH Incubator). Additionally, he is the Founder & CEO of Inside.com, among other ventures.
Linda Avey
Linda Avey is a Founding Managing Partner of Humain Ventures, investing in category-defining tech bio companies; and was at the forefront of the digital health movement as a Founder of 23andMe, and as the first independent board director of Rock Health. Her interests span precision health, AI-driven drug development, and the emergence of biology as a programmable operating system for health and longevity.
Linda sits on the board of fellows of Stanford Medical School and is a current or former advisor to health and science companies including Colossal Biosciences (driving de-extinction), Verily (Alphabet’s life science subsidiary), and Ôura (a leading health tracking wearable). She is also a director at the Human Immunome Project and an advisor to London-based Giant Ventures and the Autism Impact Fund.
Julia Cheek
Julia Cheek is the Founder and CEO of Everly Health, a digital health company providing virtual-first disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. In just 10 years, Everly Health has served over 50 million people and delivered more than 200 million personalized health insights, giving people crucial information about their health.
Julia is a visionary leader, serving on the Board of Directors for Headspace Health and The University of Texas at Austin President's Innovation Board. She demonstrates her passion for entrepreneurship by supporting underrepresented founders, investing in over a dozen healthcare startups. Julia was named a 2024 Digital Health Icon by Rock Health, 2023 Entrepreneur of the Year by Springboard Enterprises, and Fortune Magazine's 2022 15 Most Powerful Women in Startups.
Allison Ellsworth
Allison Ellsworth is the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Poppi: the modern soda brand revolutionizing soda for the next generation. She created poppi after discovering the benefits of apple cider vinegar and experimenting in her kitchen to make it taste great. From the farmers market to a Shark Tank deal, poppi quickly became one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic beverages in the U.S. and is the #1 selling soda on Amazon.
Ellsworth leads the Austin-based beverage company’s overall brand strategy, creative, and innovation. She pioneered the brand’s cultural cache and digital-first approach, attracting a loyal community of over 1M followers, over 2B+ page views on TikTok and celebrity brand fans including Kim Kardashian, Post Malone, Alix Early, Hailey Bieber, Billie Eilish and more. Allison has been recognized in the 2024 Inc. Female Founders 250 and Founder of the Year from Modern Retail. She lives in Austin, TX with her husband and three boys.
Gabe Dominocielo
Gabe Dominocielo is the President and Co-founder of Umbra, a technology company specializing in advanced space systems to both commercial and government clients. Before establishing Umbra in 2015, Dominocielo co-founded and served as Chief Operating Officer of a legal services firm whose panel attorneys achieved over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements.
Under his leadership, Umbra has distinguished itself by offering the highest-resolution commercial satellite images available, utilizing proprietary technology to capture clear imagery through clouds and at night.
Dominocielo is recognized for his pragmatic approach to the space industry, emphasizing sound unit economics and transparent business practices. He advocates for strong partnerships free of channel conflicts and has implemented transparent, self-service scheduling and tasking, permissive licensing, and clear public universal pricing at Umbra.
Lee Shapiro
Lee Shapiro is a Partner at 7wire Ventures, an investment firm he co-founded over a decade ago. He also served as Chief Financial Officer of Livongo Health [NASDAQ:LVGO] until November 2020. Previously he was President of Allscripts [NASDAQ:MDRX] from 2001 until the end of 2012. His leadership was integral in the execution of over $4B in mergers, acquisitions, and financings.
During his tenure as CFO, Livongo also had a successful secondary offering, raised $550M in convertible debt and entered into an agreement to merge at the highest valuation, $18.5B, of any healthcare technology company, based on revenue multiples. The price of $159 per share was over six times the price of Livongo’s shares at the time of its IPO, just 12 months earlier.
Lee serves on the National Board of Directors of the American Heart Association as Chair Elect, assuming his new role in July 2025.
Steve Munisteri is a Senior Advisor to the Governor of the State of Texas, Greg Abbott.
In 2017, Munisteri joined the Trump Administration as White House Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Public Liaison. Munisteri served as Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2010 to 2015.
Prior to his chairmanship, Munisteri founded his own law firm in 1982 and an oil and gas investment company in 1989. From Houston, Texas, Munisteri received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas.
Cheryl Sew Hoy is the CEO and Founder of Tiny Health, the leading microbiome health platform helping individuals and families optimize their gut and vaginal microbiome. Launched in 2022, Tiny Health pioneered the first at-home gut microbiome test for moms and babies, using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Since then, it has expanded to serve adults and older children, offering advanced testing for chronic conditions, performance, longevity, and overall health.
A repeat founder and entrepreneur, Cheryl was previously Director at Flexiroam, CMO at Hack Reactor, and Founder & CEO of Reclip.It, acquired by Walmart Labs in 2013. She later served as CEO of MaGIC, a $30M government-backed initiative to grow Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem.
With expertise in brand building, fundraising, and scaling startups, Cheryl has raised $34M across her ventures and advises numerous startups. She holds a master’s in Engineering Management & Data Mining and a bachelor’s in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, both on full scholarships.
Tiny Health’s team includes leading scientists, physicians, and microbiologists from Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Harvard Medical, and UCSF.
Cara Abbott is the Founder & CEO at Betterleave, the leading experience platform built to support individuals and families as they navigate serious illness, end-of-life & loss.
Cara is also a Partner at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed fund backed by 500 founders and operators; an Advisor for the Founder Institute; and a member of the Forbes HR Council.
Prior to Betterleave, she co-founded Code Pilot, one of the fastest growing developer training & recruitment platforms for hiring teams. Code Pilot was acquired by AngelList in 2020. Cara loves to partner with founders and leaders to support complex organizational and high-growth people initiatives for successful outcomes -- including WorldFirst, Acquisition and RetailMeNot, IPO.
George Ploss
George Ploss is the Head of Venture Capital Practice and Head of Oracle NetSuite Startup Accelerator, where he takes the resources of Oracle-NetSuite and uses them to accelerate the success of startups in incubators.
He was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where he received his MBA in finance and strategic leadership along with his bachelor's in African American studies and Political Science. While in undergrad, George enlisted in the Marine Corps, Reserves where he served a total of nine years.
Sarah Fu
Sarah Fu is an investor, founder, and operator with 15 years of experience at the intersection of financial services and technology.
As the founder of Elsa Capital, a newly-launched early-stage venture fund, Sarah invests in top fintech and vertical AI startups. She brings deep investing expertise, having overseen $8 billion in financial services and business services companies at Fidelity, alongside years of angel investing. A builder and operator at heart, Sarah played a key role in Stripe’s hypergrowth, leading product, strategy, and finance initiatives as the company scaled from $5 billion to $100 billion valuation. She also built from the ground up as co-founder and CEO of a fintech startup accepted into YC. Earlier in her career, Sarah helped execute over $25 billion of financing and M&A transactions as a technology investment banker at Morgan Stanley, where she saw firsthand many of the manual tasks that AI could automate today.
Kamal Hassan
Kamal Hassan is a Managing Partner at Loyal VC, a global venture fund designed to offer above-average returns while preserving capital, through diversification and a unique gate-stage investing process that reduces bias. Loyal is the fund Kamal wished he had available during his 20-year career as an entrepreneurial CEO, and 15 years as an angel investor. It draws upon his professional and philanthropic experiences and networks formed as a Global Director with the Founder Institute accelerator, former INSEAD Alumni Association President, a consultant at Bain & Co, and as an engineer at IMAX.
He has an INSEAD MBA and a degree in engineering physics from Queen's University. He has traveled to over 100 countries and speaks 5 languages.
Martin Tobias
Martin Tobias is the founder of Incisive Ventures, a Pre-Seed Fund based in Seattle. Incisive Ventures invests in technology companies that reduce friction at scale, leveraging the vast network Martin built as an angel investor in over 60 companies in the sector. Among these, 4 stand out as unicorns that have collectively secured $2.5B+ in follow-on financing. Martin's entrepreneurial journey is extensive. He has invested in over 250 companies as an angel, partnered with a major VC firm, and has become a limited partner in over a dozen VC funds. Additionally, he founded the leading Angel network, Element8. With experience from Microsoft, Accenture, and as a three-time venture-backed CEO, Martin has successfully secured over $500M in funding for his companies, marking two of them with successful IPOs.
Andrew Tauhert
Andrew Tauhert is the Chief Impact Officer at XPRIZE, responsible for driving and enabling the foundation’s impact across all of our programs, including program fundraising, strategic partnerships and activating the ecosystem of organizations and individuals who guide and support our work. Lastly, Andrew oversees the “visioneering” process at XPRIZE which convenes experts and thought leaders in their respective domains to chart the future direction of the foundation and focus of its forthcoming prizes.
Andrew came to XPRIZE with over 25 years of experience driving successful results in large enterprises and startups operating throughout high tech, telecom/networking, data and AI. Andrew is the former COO of Prodea Systems, a leader in Internet of Things Solutions, as well as Founder and Managing Director of VaticX Inc., a global accelerator with best practices to optimize value creation for growth stage AI, DLT, IoT, and Edge Computing companies.
Mike Sherbakov serves as General Partner at The Veteran Fund, a pre-seed venture capital fund in Silicon Valley, and Managing Director of the FI San Diego program.
As the CEO of Greatness Ventures, he led the organization to thousands of investor members and hundreds of companies in their portfolio. Their venture philanthropy arm has built homes in underdeveloped communities since 2014 and continues to lead impact trips open for the community to join.
Mike previously founded three startups, helped grow two companies from $0 to over $20M, and consulted with leading brands including Fitbit, lululemon athletica, Equinox, and Qualcomm.
Pat LaPointe
Pat LaPointe is the Chairman at Entrelliance, Managing Director at Frontier Angels, and an entrepreneur who built and sold three companies in the marketing and data analytics field. These days he brings a very entrepreneur-friendly approach to angel and venture investing, and served on the Board of the Angel Capital Association. With a portfolio of over 60 investments and afflicted by endless curiosity, Pat enjoys learning about new business models and innovative technologies and loves helping entrepreneurs find their path to growth and success.
Lyn Graft
Lyn Graft is the Founder of Storytelling for Entrepreneurs, an online platform for founders to help create, tell, and share their story; an author of Start with Story: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Using Story to Grow Your Business. Over the last fifteen years, Lyn has filmed and captured the stories of more than five hundred of the world’s top entrepreneurs, including the founders of LinkedIn, Starbucks, Dell, and Whole Foods. He has produced more than eight hundred videos focused on entrepreneurs, startups, and business content, and dedicated twenty thousand hours to studying and practicing entrepreneurial storytelling. Lyn is an entrepreneur, producer, dog lover, and co-creator of CNBC’s American Made.
Adeo Ressi
Adeo Ressi is CEO of Decile Group, which runs the leading venture capital accelerator VC Lab and operates the Decile Hub platform. Adeo is also Executive Chairman at the Founder Institute. Adeo has launched 14 VC funds and founded 11 startups, having nearly $2 billion in exits before the age of 30.
He previously served on the Board of the X Prize foundation to pursue his interests in space exploration, and studied architecture and spent time living on a commune to explore his interests in designing better ways to live.
Adeo is passionate about inspiring people to achieve their potential.
Jonathan Greechan is Co-Founder and CEO of the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator.
Since 2009, Jonathan has grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 200 cities and 95 countries, which have produced over 7000 portfolio companies with nearly $2 billion in venture funding.
Previously, Jonathan was a Partner of TheFunded.com; Executive Producer of the Founder Showcase; and Product Manager at RealNetworks (RNWK), a company he joined after its acquisition of Game Trust (a startup that raised $18M+ in venture capital, where he built and led all marketing and content).
more speakers to be announced…
Agenda Overview
FounderX is an ‘unconference’ that combines traditional conference elements with a fun, informal, and intimate environment.
For those tight on time, please note that the main conference day is Thursday, March 6. The event begins on Tuesday, March 4 with a welcoming dinner and networking event, and Wednesday March 5 will feature workshops, facilitated meetings, networking events, and co-working.
All agenda details will be updated below as they are confirmed.
Day One Agenda: Tuesday, March 4
05:00PM - 9:00PM @ East Austin Location to be shared with attendees
FounderX Texas starts with travel day and welcoming party, setting the stage for collaboration and connection.
5:00PM – 9:00PM
WelcomING RECEPTION & LIGHT DINNER
Join us for a networking event set upon a rooftop bar overlooking the Austin skyline.
Day Two Agenda: Wednesday, March 5
9:30AM - 07:00PM @ Oracle Austin Headquarters
The second day of FounderX is all about making connections and learning from experts in an informal setting.
9:30AM – 5:00PM:
All-day co-working, Workshops, and Facilitated office hours/ Meetings
9:30AM – 10:30AM:
Light Networking Breakfast
10:30AM – 11:15AM:
Opening Discussion
11:30AM – 12:00PM:
Meetings & Office Hours
12:00PM - 1:00PM:
Founder Workshops
Workshop 1: “How to Build a Board that Adds Value Without Losing Control”, by Pat LaPointe (Chairman at Entrelliance, Managing Director at Frontier Angels)
Startup founders tend to either allow investors to shape their board or they try to stack it with "friendlies" to avoid losing control. Both paths inevitably lead to low-value-added boards that waste time and create drama for years. You don't need to defer to investors or hunker down and play defense; you just need to know how to recruit the right people, structure your board for real impact, set the right expectations, and run your meetings like a pro. This workshop from Entrelliance provides clear strategies and action steps to build a highly effective board to drive value for you and all shareholders, without compromising your influence or "control". Time to level up your boardroom game.
Workshop 2: “The Ultimate Guide to Startup Positioning”, by Rob Kaminski (Co-Founder at Fletch)
If you can't explain your product to your ideal customer in a clear way, you'll struggle to find product-market fit. To do this at scale, startups actually need to find a collection of product-market fits, and properly understand how each and every market is fragmented in the eyes of their customers. In this workshop, Rob Kaminski will share tactical advice on your startup's positioning, analyze a few startup homepages right on stage, and outline frameworks he has used to help 100+ companies find P/M fit.
1:00PM – 2:00PM:
Lunch Buffet
2:00PM – 3:00PM:
Founder Workshops
Workshop 3: “Storytelling for Startup Founders”, by Lyn Graft (Founder of Storytelling for Entrepreneurs, author of Start with Story: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Using Story to Grow Your Business, and Co-Creator of CNBC’s American Made).
Your founder’s story is key to fueling your company’s success. It is a powerful asset in everything from raising capital to driving sales to securing press to attracting talent. Countless entrepreneurs have achieved business success by crafting a great story, and you can too. During this workshop, Lyn Graft will lead you through a process to construct the best narrative to showcase your business. It’s time to create your story.
Workshop 4: TBA
3:15PM – 4:45PM:
Pitch Feedback & Meetings/ Office Hours
5PM – 7:00PM:
Happy Hour & Appetizer RECEPTION
10PM – ??:
Afterparty Meetup TBA
Day Three Agenda: Thursday, March 6
8:00AM - 5:30PM @ Crum Auditorium at Rowling Hall, The University of Texas at Austin
The main ‘un-conference’ day takes place on Day 3. This single-track event will feature top Keynote speakers, engaging panels and group discussions, and plenty of opportunities for networking.
8:00Am - 8:45AM
Welcoming Breakfast RECEPTION
8:45AM – 9:15AM:
Opening Remarks
With Jonathan Greechan and Adeo Ressi
9:15AM – 10:00AM:
Deeptech Panel & Showcase
A discussion with top investors and leaders in deeptech and spacetech, followed by a quick-hitting showcase of pre-seed & seed-stage startups.
10:00AM – 10:45AM:
Keynote Speaker: Jason Calacanis
An open Q&A with Jason Calacanis: entrepreneur, author, and angel investor in over 250 startups, host of 'This Week in Startups' and 'All-In'.
10:45AM – 11:00AM:
Coffee Break
11:00AM – 11:30AM:
Keynote Speaker: Gabe Dominocielo
A fireside chat and Q&A with Gabe Dominocielo: President and Co-founder of Umbra
11:30AM – 12:00PM:
Keynote Speaker: Allison Ellsworth
A fireside chat and Q&A with Allison Ellsworth: Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Poppi.
12:00PM – 12:45PM:
Buffet Lunch Reception
12:45PM – 1:30PM:
Healthtech Panel + Showcase
A discussion with top investors and leaders in healthtech, followed by a quick-hitting showcase of pre-seed & seed-stage startups. Featuring:
Lee Shapiro, Partner at 7wire Ventures
Cheryl Sew Hoy, CEO and Founder of Tiny Health
Cara Abbott, Partner at Everywhere Ventures, Founder & CEO at Betterleave
1:30PM – 2:00PM:
Keynote Speaker: Linda Avey
A Fireside Chat with Linda Avey: Founding Managing Partner of Humain Ventures, Co-Founder of 23andMe
2:00PM – 2:15PM:
Coffee Break
2:15PM – 3:00PM:
Investor Panel & Showcase
A discussion with top industry-agnostic investors, followed by a quick-hitting showcase of pre-seed & seed-stage startups.
3:00PM – 3:30PM:
Keynote Speaker: Julia Cheek
A Fireside Chat with Julia Cheek: Founder & CEO of Everly Health, Board Member at Headspace, Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners.
3:30PM – 4:00PM:
TBA
4PM – 5:30PM:
Happy Hour & Appetizer REception
7PM – ?? PM:
Casual Dinner & Drinks Meetup TBA
SXSW Interactive begins Friday, March 7
FounderX Texas is strategically being hosted before the famous South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference (https://www.sxsw.com), which begins on Friday March 7. The portion of SXSW relevant to tech and startups ("SXSW Interactive") takes place Friday March 7 - Monday March 10. The entire event lasts 9 days (see their full schedule here).
FounderX attendees receive discounted tickets to SXSW, and joining is optional (but highly encouraged!).
Email support (at) founderx (dot) com for assistance.